In this 1994 speech--the first of three released by AK Press, oddly enough, in association with the punk record label Epitaph--Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Noam Chomsky shoots from the hip, criticizing t... more &raquohe early days of the Clinton administration long before anyone had ever heard of Monica Lewinsky. Chomsky digs into Clinton's bungled health care plan, his business interests, his labor policies, and his involvement with the North American Free Trade Agreement. Despite being the world's foremost linguist, Chomsky is not exactly a charismatic speaker--he drones a bit and offers humor sparingly. His strong, simple words, though, and his big ideas are undeniably engrossing. He takes politics out of the ether and shows us how it affects our lives and the lives of those around us. --Michael Ruby&laquo less

Synopsis

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In this 1994 speech--the first of three released by AK Press, oddly enough, in association with the punk record label Epitaph--Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Noam Chomsky shoots from the hip, criticizing the early days of the Clinton administration long before anyone had ever heard of Monica Lewinsky. Chomsky digs into Clinton's bungled health care plan, his business interests, his labor policies, and his involvement with the North American Free Trade Agreement. Despite being the world's foremost linguist, Chomsky is not exactly a charismatic speaker--he drones a bit and offers humor sparingly. His strong, simple words, though, and his big ideas are undeniably engrossing. He takes politics out of the ether and shows us how it affects our lives and the lives of those around us. --Michael Ruby

CD Reviews

More for the Corporations and Less for Us

Dana Garrett | 10/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Near the beginning of this brilliant discussion, Chomsky says "The only thing true about the North American Free Trade agreement [NAFTA] is that it has something to do with North America." This jest, which had the tone of an aside, could aptly be understood as the thesis for his discussion.

Chomsky walks his audience through the corporate forces that pushed for NAFTA, how the Clinton administration became uncompromising about its ratification in spite of its unpopularity with the American people, how the agreement hurts developing countries and American workers, and how Clinton's subservience to corporate interests belied the myth about Clinton and his so-called "New Vision" for the USA. Instead the "instruments of repression" flourished under Clinton as thousands of police officers were added, more prisons were built, chain gangs increased and as laws were changed to increase mandatory sentences to prison. In short, while the corporate sector received more freedom and less accountability, ordinary people received less freedom and more accountability under Clinton.

As usual, Chomsky provides overwhelming evidence for his case. I am glad I purchased this CD. "

Solid

Tommy Kelly | Tuscaloosa, Alabama | 08/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a terrific CD, cluttered with accurate information about the Clinton administration. Whenever I get into a debate with a Clinton supporter, I always go to info from this CD, and watch them squirm uncomfortable with them. Here are a few examples: (1) if Clinton was so concern with poverty, why would he cut welfare spending?

(2) Why would he use the word "free trade" when the only people who get any value with it are corporations, who are now outsourcing like crazy?

(3) Clinton claimed he wanted a national health care system - something medical people have been requesting for some time - only to play around with it, while a Democratic Party was in Congress. Once a Republican Party took over Congress, Clinton was able to use them as his excuse.

(4) Why do politician not admit that a lot of our tax dollars goes to subsidies corporations? That last one is what really gets people baffled. Just like the (so-called) Communist countries, the USA is somewhat a state capitalist country. A lot of these companies in the USA receive government subsidies (i.e. your tax dollars) to do research for the government, later they use the research to make products, that we have to pay for. Why the heck are we paying for something we paid to be researches... or better yet, why don't these companies, with large bank accounts, just pay for the research? The really baffling thing is that once these companies do the research, they get to put patients on the items they researched, again, with our own money."